It is well known that personal computing devices, when used in conjunction with the Internet, provide vast opportunities for learning, entertainment, communication, receiving timely information, accessing electronic/informational services, and so forth. It seems that everyone, from schoolchildren through elderly people, is increasingly using personal computing devices in the course of their daily activities, for work and for pleasure. This trend seems destined to continue into the foreseeable future.
Increasingly, children use personal computing devices to keep track of their schedules, check the weather, play games, communicate with friends and parents, complete homework assignments, learn new things, and so forth. This increased use of personal computing devices by children creates a challenge for parents, who may wish to monitor or filter the information to which a child has access. Moreover, a parent may determine that a child should spend more time using a personal computing device for one thing (such as doing homework) and less time using it for other things (such as playing games). Unfortunately, a modern personal computing device typically does not provide a parent with the controls that would allow him to define a policy relating to how a child may use the personal computing device.
More generally, most personal computing devices are directed at and best operated by adults. The hardware is typically sensitive to environmental conditions—cell phones fail when dropped in water, DVDs fail when scratched, and so forth. The software is typically loaded with features that, even when they work as advertised, are often hard to learn, explain, understand, or fully utilize. To illustrate this, consider some of the actions that are associated with clicking a mouse button in the Windows XP operating system: Rapidly double-left-clicking an icon may open the object associated with the icon or it may pull up a menu of options from which the user is supposed to select an application that should open the object. However, slowly double-left-clicking the icon may cause the name of the icon to be placed in an edit mode. Right clicking the icon may cause a menu of options to appear. Clearly, the designers of these personal computing devices assume that the users of the devices will bring a certain degree of care and cognition to the task of using the devices.
Unfortunately, it is not safe to assume that a child can provide the level of care or cognition required to effectively operate most personal computing devices. There remains a need for personal computing devices that are directed at children and that are associated with appropriate parental controls and oversight tools and techniques.